If the Victoria Grizzlies are to hunt down first place in the sa国际传媒 Hockey League鈥檚 Island Division and go on a long playoff run, they鈥檒l have to do it without their captain.
Lucas Clark has been sent home for disciplinary reasons, more specifically, violating team rules. Clark, who just returned to the lineup last weekend after missing five games with a leg injury, was absent from the Grizzlies鈥� lineup for Thursday night鈥檚 game against Alberni Valley and not listed as being injured.
鈥淚t was an extremely tough decision because Lucas is a good kid but we have sent him home for breaking team rules, which we don鈥檛 take lightly,鈥� Grizzlies president Lance Black said.
鈥淲e are a team that treats our players very well and take pride in having integrity as an organization and there are certain things we just don鈥檛 condone.
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 too bad because Lucas is a good hockey player and was a big part of our team, but no individual is bigger than the team and we always put the team and the organization first.鈥�
The Grizzlies wouldn鈥檛 go into detail about what team rules were violated, only saying there was an incident earlier in the week. Clark, who鈥檚 from Port Perry, Ont., was sixth on the team in scoring with 40 points in 49 games this season.
鈥淲e hold our players to a high standard and Lucas was our captain so this is very disappointing,鈥� Black added. 鈥淏ut we wish him the best in the future.鈥�
The timing couldn鈥檛 be worse for the Grizzlies. They鈥檙e in a heated race for first in the division. After Powell River鈥檚 3-2 loss Friday night in Cowichan Valley and the Nanaimo Clippers鈥� OT win over the Surrey Eagles, the Grizzlies and Clippers are tied atop the division with 70 points, two points up on the Kings, but Powell River has two games remaining 鈥� both in Port Alberni against the Bulldogs 鈥� while the Grizzlies just have Sunday鈥檚 home game against the Eagles left and the Clippers played their final game Friday. But the Grizzlies are in the driver鈥檚 seat because if they win Sunday, they win the division because they would own the tiebreaker over the Kings. The division winner will take on the fourth-place Bulldogs in the first round, while the second and third-place teams would match up in the first round.
鈥淣o it鈥檚 not ideal and a very unfortunate situation for both the team and Lucas,鈥� said Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon, whose club sits at 31-18-4-4.
鈥淏ut rules were broke and it鈥檚 time for both parties to move on.鈥�
Moving on for the Grizzlies means finding a new captain, but the team has chosen instead to add one more assistant captain.
鈥淲e鈥檒l go with four assistants instead of three now,鈥� added Didmon. 鈥淭.J. [Friedmann] will wear an 鈥楢鈥� permanently now and he wore one while [defenceman Drayson] Pears was out long-term with an injury, and he has shown on the ice and off it that he is one of our leaders so we have the utmost confidence in him going forward. As we do with the rest of our leadership group.鈥�
That group also includes leading scorer Jamie Rome and veteran defenceman Dayne Finnson.
鈥淵ou definitely don鈥檛 want to lose a teammate like Lucas, it鈥檚 tough to take right now,鈥� said Finnson, who racked up three assists in Thursday鈥檚 win over Alberni to bring his point total to 39, tops among Grizzlies blue-liners.
鈥淏ut we now look forward to playoffs and battling through this and we鈥檙e confident we still have the team to go on a long run this year.鈥�
